Jeanine Matthews

Purity

        the sound of my alarm clock brings me to consciousness. i hit the "snooze" button and sit up slowly. my head was pounding.

        my father's lecture from the night before still ran through my mind. it was the fifth time i had been caught socializing with the genetically damaged. since my father, David, was the leader of the bureau, i was supposed to be the perfect, genetically pure child. my perfect genes were his genes after all. according to him, that gave him the right to control every part of my life.

        i picked up a brush and stroked my perfectly blonde hair. i separated it into three perfectly even groups. i braided it quickly and precisely, no strands left out. i looked as pure as my DNA scan would tell you. it disgusted me. there was nothing good about being pure. it meant nothing other than we could treat the GDs, or genetically damaged, awfully. the only difference between us was our genes. you can't control your genes, so why do we discriminate people with "damaged genes"? whose to say one set of genes is better than the other? easy, people like my father.

        i applied my make-up lightly, my father wouldn't approve of anything otherwise. i had to listen to him- for now at least. i would leave this place.

        i grabbed my school bag and slung it onto my back. i needed to hurry so i wouldn't have to face my father. i was about to head out the door when th door handle turned. i was so close. my father slipped in and met my gaze. "ready for school?" he asked. i nodded and headed toward the door. "mind if i walk with you?" he asked, but it wasn't a question. "not at all." i replied while brushing past him.

        i started down the hall and he jogged a few steps to catch up with me. "remember our talk we had last night?" he said that like i could just forget an entire conversation we had had no more than twelve hours ago. but i guess i had forgotten, or ignored, many of our talks about avoiding GDs.

when we got into the elevator i pressed the button that would take us to ground level; forty-seven floors down. a long ride to be alone with him.

        "grace, if i catch you associating with the genetically damaged once more, i will have no other option but to send you away." he said without looking at me. of course, he had more options. but it would only seem fair to send me where my mother is- the Chicago experiment. this was my favorite experiment and i was actually excited to participate in it. i couldn't just avoid the GDs, they were my friends.

        "i understand." i say looking up at him. he glanced back and i noticed his eyes were bulging with tears. maybe he did love me- or maybe he just loved my genes.

        we stood in silence, listening to the awful elevator music. the elevator dinged, and i stepped out. he didn't follow me. i think he knew just as well as i did that he would have to send me away.

        i walked out the doors of the apartment building, which was an old hotel called the hamilton inn, now the letters on the side of the building read: h mil on in . someone needed to fix that- but all of our money and time was put towards ending genetic damage.

        the bureau of genetic welfare was about a five minute walk from the hotel, but i felt like getting in as much trouble as possible today. so i looked around for a car. i spotted a small jeep and climbed into the driver's seat. the keys were already in the ignition- i don't think anyone was prepared for a fifteen year old, who didn't know how to drive, to take their car to school. i thought this was one of the bureau's cars, therefore it would belong to my father. seemed like a good enough excuse if i got caught.

        i turned the key until the car's engine made a low rumbling noise. then i stomped on the gas pedal, which made the jeep roar loudly, but it remained stationary. so i pulled on levers and pressed buttons until the car finally started to move- which only caused the car alarm to go off twice.

        i stomped on the pedal and the car jolted forward. i was able to attain control for about thirty seconds until i veered off the road and hit a tree. i hit my head on the steering wheel, but other than enhancing my headache, there was no damage done. to me at least. the front of the car formed into a U shape around the trunk of the tree.

        i grabbed my bag and moved towards the bureau, which was less than ten steps away.

the gates opened automatically for me and i open the doors. i pass the weird sculpture that my dad takes so much pride in, it makes absolutely no sense- why would you even try to change a stone with dripping water?

        my five minute journey took me a little over twenty minutes. . . and i was late for school. oh well. i headed in the opposite direction of my classroom and towards the laboratory. might as well skip school all together.

. . . . . . . . . . .

i slipped an entire shelf of memory serum into my bag, along with ten death serums, ten fear serums, a couple attack simulation serums, a memory serum inoculation, and a couple of other bottles i didn't know what the contents were.

        i went to one of the computers and hacked into it using one of my father's codes. i had watched him enter this one thousands of times, 03056875. i read through hundreds of files and printed out certain ideas that would be useful in the experiment.

        my favorite was the idea for an "aptitude test" it would show what faction each individual should be placed into. it would also help find the genetically pure, or the the divergent, which is what they're called in the experiment. maybe i could be the perfect daughter for once and find the genetically pure and send them outside the experiment to my father.

        there was alo ideas for irrigation systems, hydroponics, formulas for truth serums, and blueprints for buildings. i wasn't just going to live in the experiments, i was going to thrive.

i headed down to the surveillance room for the chicago expiriment, and sat down in front of the walls of screens. by now it was lunch hour and there was only one person in the room, and he had on headphones and was concentrating heavily on one screen.

        i stared at the screens, thinking. what faction should i choose? i don't think i could handle the dauntless way of life. they are too dangerous and filthy. they do things that make my skin crawl for pleasure.

        i wanted to be a leader, not just a mouthpiece for the single voice of an entire faction. so even though the life of amity was appealing, it was out.

        it may be nice living in a faction where everyone is always honest with one another, but i have never liked for people to know what i'm thinking. it would be very unsettling to constantly say anything that crosses my mind.

        even though i don't want to speak out constantly, i dont want to keep to myself and do charity work for the rest of my life, so abnegation is out.

        that leaves erudite. i'm not the brightest person, but i am definantly not unintelligent. the erudite have a single Representative, and it could be me. maybe i could try being erudite and if can't keep up, i'll transfer when i turn sixteen.

        only one more thing to do- pick out a name. i walk to the library and pick up the book on the Chicago experiment. i flip to the erudite population and look through all the names. Cara, lily, Allison, Amanda, Madison, Mackenzie. . .

        then, i find one. Jeanine.